After five weeks of not being able to train on the track in Eindhoven, it was nice to see Gauls running again on January 11th. During the trainings however, someone who actually takes part in almost every athletic event stands out: Justine Fleming. How is it possible that a technical athlete, qualifying herself as a sprinter and jumper, also is able to run almost 10 km during the battle between Asterix and Parcival? Keep reading to get to know the Gaul who only has been a member since last summer, but is leading the Internal Competition for women at this moment.
Justine is a member of Asterix since September 2020, and has quite some athletic experience. She started with high jump and middle long distance running when she was 9 years old. Her favorite event is the relay, as she believes the team spirit within that event is amazing!
During competitions, you will mainly see her running the 150 or 200 meters sprint. Her best prestation on the last one has been 25.97 seconds during one of the NSK indoors. It may surprise you that Justine has broken the club record from Asterix on the pole vault.
At Asterix, it often is the case that the technical athletes do not really like to run long distances. Nevertheless, during the battle between Asterix and Parcival, in which the goal was to run as far as possible by adding all the individual distances of the members , last’s athlete of the month Tom said that Justine ran almost 10km. How is that possible? Justine says that in the past she used to run longer distances, so she did not really mind: “I just started with a pace I could hold on to so to look how far I would get”.
Within Asterix, Gauls also compete among each other with the Internal Competition. Through participating in small monthly activities, like making Christmas Cards or sending questions to the board, members can gain points for this competition. In only a few months, Justine has been able to gain the lead in the Internal Competition for women, how? “My main motivation to participate is that I really would like to win from Domingos with my amount of points. Besides, I like to challenge myself. The Christmas photoshop challenge was quite fun to do.” Is that also the reason that your bike is purple? “Yes, I had some purple paint at home and some stickers, so it was not that difficult”.
Then, what has been her best memory of Asterix until now? “I liked the NSK teams, it was my first competition at Asterix and I did not know many people, but I liked the ambiance”.
Justine is a member of both the NSK combined events committee and the Training Weekend committee this year, so there is no doubt that Justine will add to the association with both sports and fun. Her goal for this year is to gain a personal best on every event, also in the events that she does not do that often. Let’s hope we soon are able to compete again, so to see Justine break her personal bests!
We wish you lots of good luck Justine!
By: Lianne Daan